5 avoidable website design mistakes

The Internet consists of about a billion websites. That’s not a figure of speech; it’s the actual count of websites you can visit in 2016. Among those billion websites are probably just as many website design mistakes that make websites harder to use, harder to find or just plain unattractive. Here are five of the most common website design mistakes. If your current website features any of these, you may want to think about their impact on your site.

These website design mistakes reduce your site’s effectiveness

Lack of planning. Having an overall plan for your website is fundamental to good website design, so it lands at the top of our list of website design mistakes. Taking time to think about what’s on your website, what you want it to accomplish, and how you want visitors to move around it is never a bad thing. Your website should support your brand, and it will do that better if you put a website plan in place. Planning should also encompass near- and mid-term future website development. Planning additions, subtractions and changes to your site can help you manage the dynamics of your web presence.

Bad text choices. Text has always been a question on websites, which makes it ripe for a whole raft of website design mistakes. Early versions of HTML didn’t handle text very well. Today, the range of text choices and attributes is almost overwhelming. Choice is good. Overwhelming is not! Many websites use tiny type (which can be hard on old eyes), or don’t provide enough contrast between the background and the text, making the site difficult to read. Check the look of your website design on a number of different monitor resolutions. Check the spacing between lines, and leave plenty of white space. If your website doesn’t look good at all resolutions, you may have to adjust your CSS to adapt to different display conditions.

Bad images. Images are everything! Good quality images can make a website. Bad quality images are an instant turnoff. Use professional quality photographs on your website. Whether that means you use stock photography, or hire a professional photographer is up to you, but whatever you do, weed out the poor quality photos on your site to avoid one of the top website design mistakes!

Bad icons and graphics. Icons are typically used as navigational tools. If they’re bad, your website is in trouble! Good website design means using good icons and graphics to help your visitors navigate, submit information and get things done while they’re visiting. Some of the worst website experiences involve trying to navigate using mystery website icons or graphics. People won’t click a button if they don’t know what it does. Label your icons clearly and include descriptions of what the button does when the visitor “mouses over” it. Color coordinate icons and graphics with your website design theme.

Broken links. Broken links or links that don’t do anything are a bummer for the visitor. If content for a section of your website isn’t ready to go, don’t even provide a link to it. (Add links only after the content has been developed.) Make sure you keep your website and associated plug-ins up-to-date, too. Disabled or out-of-date plug-ins can produce flaky behavior on your website. Worse, they could be security risks.

If you’d like more information about these website design mistakes or how to correct them, please contact our Creative Director Dave Ramsell or give Dave a call at (330) 243-0651 to set up a consultation.

Photo Credit: Svilen Milev, via FreeImages.com